WASHINGTON: Nineteen American crewmembers of the Maersk Alabama returned home early Thursday, days after the dramatic high seas capture of their captain.Family members and friends greeted the crew at a dark and damp Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington in the early hours of the morning.The Danish-operated Maersk Alabama crew had been in Mombasa since the vessel docked there on Saturday, three days after the pirate ambush in the Indian Ocean that saw the vessel's captain taken hostage for five days.The crew disembarked the jet liner, down the steps onto a rain-sodden runway as family members rushed to embrace them.It remained unknown when Captain Richard Phillips would return home.Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a US Navy destroyer, after the rescue on Sunday in which Special Forces snipers shot dead three of four pirates who had taken him hostage aboard a lifeboat.Late Tuesday, the Bainbridge came to the rescue of another US-flagged freighter, Liberty Sun, which was attacked by pirates while on its way to Mombasa to deliver food aid. A pirate commander said the attack was in revenge for the US Navy operation that freed Phillips.Aided by good weather, Somali pirates have intensified attacks off the lawless country's coast, with at least 10 ships seized since the beginning of this month despite the presence of an anti-piracy naval force.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled a plan Wednesday to fight piracy, calling for prosecution and freezing pirates' assets with the support of Washington's international partners.The Pentagon is also set to study ways to fight the piracy scourge off Somalia's coast, according to spokesman Bryan Whitman.A contact group on piracy was established under a UN Security Council Resolution on January 14 to coordinate actions among states and organizations to suppress the scourge in the region's pirate-infested waters.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...
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